A prominent historian, Francis Parkman overcame his own poor health and failing eyesight to produce classic works. He vividly described the American wilderness, much after traveling it himself in the mid-1800s. Parkman's masterwork, France and England in North America, is made up of seven separate studies describing the French explorers and their empire in North America, ending in an epic account of the French and Indian War. As part of his research, he spent seven months making the westward trek across the continent before writing The California and Oregon Trail.